A former senior civil servant and diplomat of Fiji has said in Australia that Fiji would have become the Zimbabwe of the South Pacific if the Indigenous Land Claims Tribunal bill would have been legislated by the Qarase administration in 2006.
Peter Thomson a former Permanent Secretary for Information and the Secretary to the Governor General Ratu Penaia Ganilau in 1987 has told Radio Australia that the 2006 coup was carried out due to the controversial bills.
Thomson said the Indigenous Claims Tribunal Bill in particular would have been disastrous for Fiji.
Meanwhile, Thomson recently met with Fiji's Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama when he visited Fiji.
He has called on Australia and New Zealand to accept the reality that Commodore Bainimarama will stick to the roadmap to have elections in 2014.
Fijivillage understands that the Australian High Commissioner has been having meetings with senior officials of the Foreign Affairs Ministry but has never met with Commodore Bainimarama when he was Foreign Minister.
Feature
Bill would have taken Fiji backwards
